Nite News 3/10/08

2008 Nite ISA Recap

We had a great time this past weekend on Geneva. Skeeter Iceboat Club were fantastic hosts. Special thanks to Steve and Mary Jane Schalk, Debbie Whitehorse, Paul Krueger Burley Burlenthein and all the other members of the Race Committee who did a fantastic job for all the fleets.

And thank you to the 23 Nite skippers (and their families who let them come and play for two or three days) for coming out. We had a few sailors who could only make it for Saturday and Sunday. Even so, they got in some good racing in our fleet. It was great to see the familiar faces and meet our newer members too.

Friday's conditions were clearly the best. The breeze was running about 10 - 12 from the Northwest. Saturday's breeze was more like 6 - 10 and quite shifty. Sunday we were greeted with winds from the east - Southeast around 10. Though it was cold, we had great sun for the first two days. Yesterday brought us some light snow about the middle of our one and only race of the day. Ice conditions were great. A few traces of snow but nothing that we couldn't sail right through, even in these light breezes.

As for the racing, Dave Navin was the only one who managed to finish consistently in the top 3 spots during each race. Eight of us had the chance to cross the finish line in the top five spots over the course of the three day regatta. Plenty of lead changes and lots of close racing both at the front and middle of the fleet. This year's long distance award (if we had one) would go to Bob Crum who came out here from Rochester New York to sail with us. He's owned his Nite for five years, though he told me that until Thursday, he'd never seen another one in person. I hope that you can become a cheerleader for our class with the folks in the eastern part of the country. Next year, you can bring a caravan.

Our top five finishers are shown in the photo: 1st: Dave Navin 2nd: Grant Frautschi 3rd: Jim Gluek 4th: Mark Prange 5th: Mark Wilfert

You can find all the results at the http://www.internationalniteclass.org/niteisa2008.htm.

Next up is the Nite Nationals. We need to make a call for that location by Thursday. It's clear that many sites in the midwest still have conditions. Geneva, Pewaukee and Madison are all centrally located within the world of Nite sailors and have plenty of ice. But there may be other spots with conditions. Please dispatch your local ice checkers, warm up your weather-watching crystal balls and lets find ice, good food (well, any kind of food) and a place to stay. Keeper trophies go down to 10th place.

We need local knowledge and a race committee to pull this off. Luckily, Mother Nature is being kind to us this year.

Stay in touch and we'll see you on the ice.

Donald Sanford
dpsanford@charter.net